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a journey through health reconstruction

Monthly Archives: October 2013

I had a follow-up appointment with the “natural” doctor down in Fayetteville earlier this week. We discussed the full results of the food sensitivity test and had a chance to ask a lot of questions. One fun fact is that we asked her how “bad” my panel looked and she said it was “pretty bad”…but fixable. I also found out that my early freak-out of not getting to eat certain foods ever again was perhaps a little over the top…I’m such a pansy. I’ll just need to avoid them for the next six months and then reintroduce them slowly to check for negative reactions. So poultry…I’ll see you again in May…you will be missed my fine feathered friend!

The results from the test also included a 4-day rotation diet that suffice to say, is very limited on a day-to-day basis. You can eat the foods in each column within a 24 hour time frame…but not on back to back days. It should be fun…like a food Rubik’s Cube.

With that being said, I’m actually looking forward into settling into a routine with the 4-day rotation. I figure that if we come up with some awesome meals working with the ingredients available…it will be like an episode of Chopped! As an added benefit we’ll be eating better as a family and we’ll hopefully be saving some dough from eating out. You see…we like to hit the restaurants from time to time. I’m looking forward to the challenge, meal planning, and refining the cooking a bit. Like I’ve said previously…I enjoy cooking is…I guess you could call it my hobby.

So yesterday we took a trip down to Little Rock as a family…and we performed a dry run on one of the days in the rotation. We packed lunches the night before in order to avoid the pitfalls of trying to eat at restaurants. For breakfast I ate 1/4 cup of pecans with some fruit and black tea. I picked Day 4 in the rotation as it had the most options available…because I like options…and shrimp. For lunch my wife prepared a delicious spinach and shrimp salad with a lemon/olive oil dressing that was really good…I actually got full…on a salad…sitting in the front seat of the minivan. It was definitely something to have again.

On the way out of town we stopped into Whole Foods where I scored some plain black and green teas, and some dry roasted almond butter…I got to flip the switch on the machine and watch it grind and fall into the container…good times! When you spread it on an apple and it’s pretty dang good. I also put into practice a lot of label reading…made a few wise cracks about gluten and peanuts being in everything. Probably the hardest thing about being around really good foods is the temptation factor…there’s only a select few to have…plus the kids got a treat from the bakery…ah…the bakery! When we arrived home I made a pretty good pecan crusted salmon, with sauteed squash and a side of rice for dinner…it definitely hit the spot.

Overall, I felt pretty good about the day had gone…there were times when I was hungry…but drinking a ton of water seemed to squelch my cravings…normally I’d be looking for something to cram down my gullet. I’m very thankful for all of the support I’ve been getting from friends and family…it is truly helpful…appreciate it.

Recently, I began seeing one of those “natural doctors” down in funky Fayetteville. She was extremely nice and our initial visit was more like what I would imagine seeing a therapist would be like. She quizzed me about my lifestyle, asked me what I did to relieve stress (I tend to bottle stress up…so at this point I’m trying to find an activity…I’m open to suggestions), what sort of foods I typically eat (I like meats and starches), the amount of exercise I do everyday (does “none” count?), sleeping habits (I’m a night owl), etc.

Towards the end of the consultation she talked to me about taking a food sensitivity test. I agreed (I’m pretty desperate at this point) so she extracted four vials of my blood to send off to some lab in Florida. At the lab they would bombard my blood cells with different foods to see how my cells react, resulting in a spreadsheet of foods that I should avoid and safe foods to eat. Turns out, almost every food I love and enjoy are ones I should avoid…here are a few highlights:

Chicken (probably the go-to protein in our house…I like it grilled and fried)

Turkey (well there goes Thanksgiving)

Fructose (high fructose corn syrup)

Peanuts and cashews (no more Reese’s cups, PB&J’s, trail mix)

Coffee (I’m still reeling from this as I down about 4 cups every morning)

So, along with one lonely animal protein…I can eat a lot of other vegetables and fruits…not to mention salmon which I do enjoy. It’s not entirely bad news but several days later I’m struggling to find my way in the acceptable food wilderness.